Tougher road safety measures called for as 'people lose fear of penalty points'
Picture: Brendan File Gleeosn
The deaths of four more people on the roads in the last four days have sparked calls for tougher sanctions to bring back the "fear of penalty points".
Three motorcyclists have been killed in separate crashes in Cork in the last four days while a cyclist was also killed in Dublin on Wednesday.
So far in 2024, 68 people have died on the roads — 17 more than the same period in 2023, which itself was considered a tragic year for accidents.
On Wednesday, a motorcyclist in his 40s was killed after colliding with a truck near Ballydesmond in Cork, while a cyclist in her 20s was killed following a collision with a van in Dún Laoghaire.
The motorcyclist was the second to die on Cork roads in just 14 hours, and the third motorcyclist to die in the county since Sunday.
Motorcycles account for approximately 1.5% of all vehicles on the roads yet so far in 2024, bikers have accounted for more than 10% of the deaths.
Irish Road Victims Association vice president Leo Lieghio has urged the Government to take a tougher approach to road safety.
“I don’t know what was involved in the most recent tragedies, but in general, people seem to have lost the fear of penalty points, of being caught speeding, or drink/drug driving, or of losing their driver’s licence,” said Mr Lieghio, whose daughter, Marsia, 16, died in 2005 after she was struck by a car.
“I don’t know why we are still taking the softly-softly approach.
The latest fatalities came as a community that had warned just two weeks ago of more road deaths in their area, vowed to ramp up their campaign for road safety upgrades, following the death of a young motorcyclist at Ballinahina, about 4km north of Cork City on Tuesday.
The victim was named locally as Paul Harrington, who was in his mid-20s.
He died when his motorbike was involved in a collision with a van at Ballinahina just before 6pm on Tuesday.
It occurred just two weeks after a delegation of residents presented a petition to the Lord Mayor, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, at City Hall, calling for the delivery of long-awaited road safety measures in the area, amid warnings of more road deaths until the work is done.
Joan Lewis, chairperson of the Kilcully and Ballincrokig Residents Association, said the entire community has been devastated by the tragedy — the 10th road death in the area in a decade.
In their petition, they said residents in Kilcully, Dublin Hill, Ballincrokig, Whitechurch Rd, Carrignavar, and Ballinahina Rd are living in constant fear of high-speed traffic, with inadequate lighting and footpaths.
“We cannot wait any longer while lives are at risk. We refuse to let more lives be lost or forever changed due to negligence or delay.
"It's time they prioritised our safety,” the residents said at the time.
Ms Lewis said residents plan to ramp up their campaign now.
“Why are they ignoring us? Why are we being pushed back all the time?
Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said councillors for the area agreed on Monday to prioritise traffic calming in Kilcully.
“Tragically, that's too late for this young man and his family.
"Nothing will ever bring back his life.
"Those works now have to go ahead urgently.
“We have to prevent these serious incidents from happening again and again in this area.”
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Road Safety Authority, Sam Waide, has told the Oireachtas that one in five people are looking at their phone while driving and one in 10 admits to speaking on a phone held in their hand while driving.